Hell yes 2008 was a great break-through year for women. Hillary proved that she is equal to any male candidate (except Obama, obviously). Of course I was disappointed that she lost and of course Obama made me nervous at first. He had a different style of communicating and I didn’t always follow his line of speaking. But I really hadn’t been paying attention to him because I had been more focused on supporting Hillary.

Once I knew my choices were now limited to Obama and McCain, I started paying more attention to Obama but he still made me a little nervous because of his lack of experience and I thought McCain was one of the more honorable Republicans. So I could probably have been swayed to vote Republican this time. My mind was open and I started paying more attention and doing more research on both of the choices available.

When I heard the announcement that Obama had chosen Joe Biden as a running mate, I said wow! What a smart decision. That eased my mind, and Obama earned huge points in my book because Joe Biden had good solid experience and I liked him.

Then McCain chose Sarah Palin as his running mate and, as an open-minded feminist, I was offended. “How transparent can he get? How dumb does he think we are?” were the questions my women friends were asking one another. (And not all my friends supported Hillary!)

He might have redeemed himself if he had decisively replaced Palin when he realized he had made a mistake. But McCain continued to defend his choice, saying “I’m very proud of her,” as if she were a child. It was apparent that he did not consider her his peer. His patronizing attitude towards her was obvious. (Why weren’t feminists talking about this?)

Sarah Palin has done a great job of helping the advancement of women in politics because all sides have learned so much from this huge Republican blunder.

I came to believe that Barack Obama was the smarter candidate in 2008. I thought he would make better decisions than McCain would about who he would surround himself with. After all, besides his smart choice for running mate, look at who he chose for a life mate. Very smart. I believe that Michelle is one of Obama’s best political assets, just like Hillary remains one of Bill’s.

I say: Hillary in 2016. But be prepared to replace Obama in ’12 just in case he doesn’t do what he says he’s gonna do. Of course 2008 was a great year for women! We have proven that we don’t vote for a woman just because she’s a woman. We vote for a woman because she’s the best candidate for the job.

And Sarah Palin was not ready to step into the national arena. She blew her chance. A veteran recording star once advised me (after listening to my raw demo): “Do not make the mistake of getting into the spotlight before you’re ready because you only get one first chance. If you’re not ready, you’ll blow it because you won’t get another shot.”

Sarah Palin should have waited until she was ready. Now we know she puts personal ambition ahead of the good of her country and political party. Now we know she’s not the sharpest tool in the shed. Now we know we can’t trust her to go the distance.

But thank you, Sarah Palin, for inspiring this conversation, and for helping to accelerate the women’s movement forward. Thank you for helping many undecided voters make their decision more easily in 2008.